Xotl

I've built this villain team around the concept of powerful beings drawn together by a Fu Manchu/Dr. Yin Wu sort of master Oriental villain (The Sinister Wang Ho). He seeks a return to the old days, where China is the centre of the world and has a proper Emperor with the Mandate of Heaven. I'm looking for some feedback on her build, but I'm adding her background to aid in that. LOTUS BLOSSOM Lotus Blossom grew up in the mid-19th century, during the collapse of the last Chinese imperial dynasty, the Qing. The two Opium Wars culminated in the burning of the Emperor's Summer Palace by Anglo-French troops, destroying the home of the Ministry of Sorcery and its centuries-old collection of arcane knowledge. The Taiping Rebellion, a ferocious civil war that raged for almost 15 years and killed some 25 million people, decimated the arcane knowledge of China, as well as killing most of its practitioners. Her father was one of the few imperial court magicians to survive this tumultuous period, but political machinations forced him out of favour and into exile. As the country collapsed, pulled to pieces between competing foreign powers, he decided to break with centuries of tradition and teach a woman, his daughter, the ways of imperial sorcery, before it disappeared altogether. She proved an apt pupil, eager to avenge the fall of her family as well as her country, and to reclaim the life of luxury she had once known. Despite her best efforts, her powers were no match for the winds of change then sweeping across the land. Shot by British soldiers while supporting the Boxer Rebellion, she lay dying, mentally screaming in anguish at her failure as her countrymen were shot down all around her. When she awoke she was somewhere else, a cave by the looks of things. Her wounds had been healed, though she felt weak as a kitten. A man dressed in the rich finery of the imperial court sat by her side, marked by his robe as one of the highest-ranking mandarins of the Ministry of Sorcery. He carefully fed her a rich black liquid, which filled her with strength as it trickled down her throat. She rapidly came back to life, ready to rush out and crush the invaders of her home. She had to hurry: there was little time, always so little time. "Not yet," he said, apparently reading her mind. "That battle is lost. The foreign devils have occupied Peking; the Qing are finished. It is only a matter of time." "No!" she cried. I have worked all my life to prevent this. I won't give up now!" He looked at her keenly, his strange eyes glowing by the light of the fire. "Serve me, and you will have all the time you need..." VAL...CHA......Cost...Total...Roll.......Notes 10....STR.......0......10......11-.......HTH Damage 2d6 END [1] 14....DEX.......12.....14......12-.......OCV 5 DCV 5 10....CON.......0......10......11- 10....BODY......0......10......11- 19....INT.......9......19......13-.......PER Roll 17- 23....EGO.......26.....23......14-.......ECV: 8 30....PRE.......20.....30......15-.......PRE Attack: 6d6 10....COM.......0......10......11- 2.....PD........0......2/25..............2/25 PD (0/23 rPD) 2.....ED........0......2/25..............2/25 ED (0/23 rED) 5.....SPD.......26......5................Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 5.....REC.......2.......5 50....END.......15.....50 30....STUN......10.....30 0.....RUN......-12......0"...............END [0] 0.....SWIM.....-2.......0"...............END [0] 0.....LEAP.....-2.......0"...............0" forward, 0" upward CHA Cost: 104 Cost..POWERS 70.....Sorcery Multipower, 88-point reserve, (88 Active Points); all slots Gestures (-1/4) 4u.....1) Dispel 22d6 (standard effect: 66 points), any Magic power one at a time (+1/4) (82 Active Points); Requires a contested Power Skill Roll (-3/4), Gestures (-1/4) - END=8 6u.....2) Ego Attack 8 1/2d6 (85 Active Points); Gestures (-1/4), Visible (-1/4) - END=8 4u.....3) Dust of the Lotus: Energy Blast 7d6, Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), No Normal Defense (self-contained breathing, no need to breathe, gas mask; +1) (87 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Not in high winds or rain (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4) - END=9 6u.....4) Mental Illusions 13d6, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (81 Active Points); Gestures (-1/4) - END=3 7u.....5) Telekinesis (33 STR), Affects Porous, Fine Manipulation, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (87 Active Points); Gestures (-1/4) - END=3 3u.....6) Telepathy 14d6 (Animal and Human class of minds) (80 Active Points); Eye Contact Required (Constant Power requires eye contact throughout use; -1), Gestures (-1/4) - END=8 7u.....7) Teleportation 7", No Relative Velocity, x8 Increased Mass, MegaScale (1" = 1,000 km; +1), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1km (+1/4) (88 Active Points); Gestures (-1/4) - END=9 15.....Flight 5", Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (22 Active Points); Always On (-1/2) 46.....Force Field (23 PD/23 ED) - END=5 41.....Images - Sight, Hearing and Touch Groups 1" radius, +/-8 to PER Rolls, Alterable Size, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (61 Active Points); Gestures (Requires both hands; -1/2) - END=2 7......Life Support (Eating: Character only has to eat once per week; Longevity: 200 Years; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Sleeping: Character only has to sleep 8 hours per week) 10.....Mental Defense (15 points total) 40.....Mind Link, Any Willing Target, No LOS Needed, Number of Minds (x8) 32.....Spatial Awareness (Mental Group), Discriminatory, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees) 10.....Teleportation: Floating Fixed Location (2 Locations) 36.....Teleportation 15", No Relative Velocity, Position Shift (45 Active Points); Incantations (-1/4) - END=4 12.....+4 PER with all Sense Groups POWERS Cost: 356 SKILLS Bureaucratics 15- Cryptography 13- Deduction 14- High Society 16- KS: Arcane & Occult Lore 16- KS: The Mystical World 15- KS: The Spirit World 15- Language: Cantonese (imitate dialects; literate) Language: English (completely fluent; literate) Language: Mandarin (completely fluent; literate) Musical Instrument Familiarity (Chordophones) 14- Power: Magic 16- Sleight Of Hand 12- Teamwork 13- +4 with DCV; Must be aware of attack (-1/4) +4 with Energy Blast SKILLS Cost: 87 Cost...TALENTS 3......Perfect Pitch TALENTS Cost: 3 Value..DISADVANTAGES 10......Dependence: Juice of the black lotus Takes 2d6 Damage (Extremely Difficult To Obtain; 1 Day) 5.......Distinctive Features: Face of shadow (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 5.......Hunted: The Circle 8- (Mo Pow; Watching) 10......Hunted: Tiger Squad 8- (Mo Pow; Limited Geographical Area; Harshly Punish) 20......Hunted: UNTIL 8- (Mo Pow; NCI; Capture) 20......Psychological Limitation: Contemptuous of non-Chinese (VC; Strong) 10......Psychological Limitation: Lusts for forbidden knowledge (Un; Strong) 15......Social Limitation: Subject To Orders (Frequently; Major) 20......Susceptibility: Cold Iron 2d6 damage per Phase (Un) 20......Vulnerability: 2 x Effect Sight Group Flash attacks (Com) 5.......Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x STUN Light-based attacks (Un) 5.......Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x BODY Light-based attacks (Un) DISADVANTAGES Points: 145 Total Character Cost: 550 Lotus Blossom has learned much since that day a century ago. Her powers have grown far beyond what even her father possessed. She has veiled her face in shadow and adopted a new name in order to conceal her identity but also her age. She never walks, instead continually floating a few inches off the ground, with her arms folded inside her long robes. Her hunger for forbidden knowledge derives from her fear that she will die before she completes her goals. More than anything she seeks immortality, and it is that that has allowed her master to ensnare her. Immortal himself, he parcels out his knowledge ever so sparingly, allowing her to remain relatively young and agile, yet always aware that she has so much still to do. Wang Ho has falsely told her that the immortality process he possesses must move slowly, and requires a slow but steady trickle of the juice of the black lotus: in reality, while it does provide a small boost to her powers, the cost is a terrible dependency on an extremely rare substance, just one more tool Wang Ho uses to keep her close to him. In battle Lotus Blossom prefers to hang back, crafting images to deceive her opponents. However, she possesses a strong array of attacks if this proves necessary. If things go wrong or the team is needed elsewhere, she is the one that teleports them all away. Though she has little regard for non-Chinese, she saves an extra measure of hatred for the British. Heroes with strong British themes, especially patriotic ones, will always draw her emnity first. As the schemes of her master have led to action outside of China, UNTIL is after her (and her teammates). Lastly, China's national superteam, Tiger Squad, is a bitter enemy: Blossom views them as a pack of uncultured peasant lackies and betrayers of the true China, and they have clashed many times over the years. Having watched the Cultural Revolution smash many of the relics of China's ancient past, she has nothing but scorn for the Communists. I've posted her first because she's by far the most interesting. I'd appreciate any feedback you could give on her build, as I'm relatively unpracticed at this whole character making thing. I'll add the other members later, so as not to make this a flood.

Re: The Distinctive, The Special, The Cool Everyone knows Hero has reason from effect, but I love just how deeply ingrained that is. You don't have an endless list of skills - you have PS, SS, and KS of whatever kind you want, so I can add any skill to a character and make it work. Similarly, the two disadvantages, Physical and Psychological, contain within them a million possibilities, whereas another game would try to give you an exhaustive list and simply fail. I love Hero for supers, where you can do anything, but I really love it for Fantasy, where I can so powerfully break from the class and race and level mode that burdens so many other fantasy games. I love being able to say, "sure, we can check the following twenty books in this other game for class and feat combinations and mix and match to see if you can get what you want, or you can just tell me what you want and we'll do it. Oh, and perhaps not strictly Hero per se, but I've come to love the members of the Champions Universe. Over a decade of playing I've come to enjoy seeing Black Paladin, Ankylosaur and the rest of the gang turn up. They're like old friends at this point. That's why I'm particularly excited by the release structure for the 6E villain books, as by releasing a giant slew at once it enlarges the base pool of villains that will see more universal play, rather than only releasing a few core villains at the start (though honestly I still hope to see supplemental villain books as well, because I can't get enough of them).

Re: Target Hero - Powershift Thanks for the replies thus far, folks. I don't quite follow this. How does the Reserve x 2 interact with the 100 END, and how does the "recovers seg" interact with the "recovers 40 phase". Each seems like two different ways of doing the same thing, modelled in one power.

For those of you that have this old 3rd ed supplement around, I was looking to update the hero Powershift to 5thR. However, the character writeups are pretty compressed in these old books (leaving me to really appreciate the expanded-to-the-nth-degree ones in the modern books). In particular, he's bought the following (along with an END Reserve and a bunch of other powers) through an IAF: +40 STR, +10 DEX, +25 CON, +10 BODY, +20 PRE, +8 PD, +8 ED, +3 SPD Every stat increase has been bought together as a single "Mystical Transformation" power with a single point cost (77 points). In addition to the focus, this stat increase has the listed disdvantages "Costs END, only at full power, all bonuses linked." I'd like to rebuild this guy as accurately as possible, no matter how absurd the build is, so long as it's not of dubious legality (i.e. no adding frameworks or anything unless that's necessary to update to the new rules). How do I represent "only at full power" and "all bonuses linked"? In particular, I'm wondering what all these bonuses would be linked to. Thanks. EDIT: also, his END Reserve is written up as END Battery: Reserve x 2, recharge seg, 100 END, recovers 40 phase What did "Reserve x 2" and "recharge seg" mean in 3rd ed?

Re: N-Ray with Senses having the opposite effect?

Re: N-Ray with Senses having the opposite effect?

Re: N-Ray with Senses having the opposite effect? I'm honestly not sure - I must be one of the few Champions players that doesn't like superhero comics. It would just be the ability tell one mind from another and pick them out regardless of physical objects in between. It does seem like a fairly common effect though, as mental effects go. I intend it as a replacement for Mind Scan - more finely detailed, but definitely not global in scope.

It's an odd scenario perhaps, but I'm confused as to how to accurately model an effect I'd like. I want Detect Mind (bought as a Sense via Mental Group). The idea behind it is that the character is able to sense the minds of anyone within range, with physical objects not blocking it, simply because I just don't see that they should. The rulebook provides no guidelines as to what blocks a sense. The FAQ says that there's nothing set in stone, and that to "...consider the special effects involved, particularly when you’re building a power. If you want to create a power that can Detect Magic without being blocked by physical objects, build it so that you don’t have to assign it to a Sense Group that would ordinarily have difficulty perceiving through physical objects. Then the whole issue becomes moot." That's exactly how I see this power build, where the character "sees" the locations of other minds in his mind. So, N-Ray Perception (Mental) seems unnecessary. At the same time, am I just using fluff to work my way around the need to buy a modifier I should have? It gets worse because if I buy N-Ray I need to specify something reasonably common that blocks it, yet the base Detect Mind build as I've described above seems to be able to not be blocked by anything (other than Invisibility of course), meaning if I buy N-Ray I'm paying points to make a power (that isn't blocked by things) weaker (able to be blocked by something). Can anyone offer a little guidance here?

Re: Interfering with mental/independent senses I actually discovered that this exact issue is handled in the current FAQ: the answer is basically "apply common sense, but you decide". And I definitely agree that N-Ray is a touch odd: it seems that it would work better as a sense modifier, rather than as a sense of its own. I'm not sure why it's set up the way it is - it seems counterintuitive, and like a poor man's Spatial Awareness besides.

I'm making a character with Detect Minds (Mental Group) as his main schtick instead of Mind Scan. I'm really interested in the possibilities behind this, but I'm also left wondering about certain aspects of the sense rules. For instance, Mental Awareness is line of sight. Mind Scan, on the other hand, is worldwide, no LOS required. I'm not talking about Range per se: I realize my Sense Minds build comes with the normal Range sense modifier and range penalties apply as normal. What I'm wondering is if I build Sense Minds (Mental Group, or independent of all groups), what stops it as a sense? Do walls block it? What page is all this sorted out on? I'm just not aware of any part of the rules that defines the line of sight limitations (if any) for detects bought as mental group or as independent.

Re: THE ULTIMATE BASE -- What Do *You* Want To See? Under Base Equipment I'd like to see a decent focus on deathtraps, both the wonderful and outlandish as well as the mundane. And since you mention making sure there's room in your base for a bathroom, is there space in the book to let us know how much room "realistic" traps such as piranha tanks and the like are going to take up? This wouldn't really be necessary for the more fantastic sci-fi/magical traps, since they have no baseline to go off of and so are usually just whatever size you need or want them to be. Self-destruct is a cliche, preferably with both practical (actually blows up the base) and dramatic versions (ominously destroys base over time with lots of explosions, falling bits, and chances for friends/McGuffins to fall down cracks in the floor). This leads directly into... "No One Could Have Survived That." I would definitely add Doctor Fang's (Masterminds and Madmen) "Luck: Only To Avoid Certain Death" power (and other similar ones), as this is a cross-genre staple that people always want to have and wiill want to know how to model. Also, another base staple is that they get invaded and otherwised trashed on a regular basis. I'd like some coverage of different ways to buy bases concerning this: ones that over time recover from damage (and SFX for how they do so) vs. Independent-type bases that if destroyed are gone for good. Guidelines on how permanent bases recover from damage, and ways to speed up or slow down the process with advantages, would be welcome. Outer space and undersea bases could do with a bit of treatment on that perennial dilemma, loss of atmosphere - how x-damage converts to an x-sized hole in the wall, and how fast atmosphere escapes from it/water rushes in, to handle the usual dramatic rescue scenes and such. I don't know how crazy you want to get with mundane logistics, such as air supply, food and water, how many people you can cram into a space, disease chance etc. If you're not sure, I think it at least some of it should feature in the historical section, since sieges are so important in history, fantasy and the corresponding fiction. Base detection systems for each genre would be very welcome: how does each genre handle watching for intruders? A little less obviously, I'd really like to see here the typical powers used whenever something is modelled to defeat these observers. For example, I've seen a few character builds scattered about that have powers like Desolidification: only to evade security devices - a summary of powers like that would be very apt here. Speaking of detection, I'd like some good coverage per genre on how a secret base is hidden and stays that way. Heroic-level guidelines for building a base with cash instead of points would be nice, though I realize that could get ugly quickly. Might only be practical for real castles, whose historical costs are on occasion recorded and can be translated to dollars today, and mundane modern structures, like warehouses and the like. In the historical section, a mini-glossary on the usual real-world castle terms (barbican, portcullis etc) would be very welcome. Disadvantages and Power Limitations unique to Bases could be neat. Offhand I'm thinking of things like: Reduced Concealment (it's not as secret as you wish it were) Monster Lair nearby (this and other reasons you got the land so cheap) Shoddy (low-quality or hurried construction, or even both) Mole (one or more of the base dependents is an enemy agent) Secret Entrance Unknown to Base Owner (there's almost always one of these, no matter how smart the evil overlord running it seems to be). I'd ask for a specific "comes with sentient robot butler doomed to betray you" disad, but I don't think it would make the cut. What about coverage of that superhero staple, the Danger Room? Can't think of anything specific for bases in Post-Apocalyptic Hero, though they often appear: refuge from zombies/radiation, fabled lost storehouse of books/technology/weapons/people of the pre-crash era etc. Thought I'd mention it though in case it triggers something for you. Lastly, I'm wondering if you'll handle the occasional base in fiction that seems to be able to temporarily animate itself, or even bolder, to transform into something and then animate itself. This sort of blurs into Ultimate Vehicle territory, but seems to be fairly common in anime- and robot-based stuff, and it's always a base first and a vehicle a very distant second.

1. Invisibility must be bought initially against at least one entire sense group. Is every single sense in the Unusual Group its own individual sense group? In other words, if I want to buy ONLY Invisibility to a Detect, could that one sense be the entire group I'm paying for when I buy the power? 1A. If every individual sense in the Unusual Group is its own sense group, does that mean once I've paid the base cost for Invisibility and then want to add more senses to be Invisible to, I'm forced to pay the group price of +10/+5 for each extra Unusual Group sense? 2. Two different Detect builds can have the same name and detect the same thing, yet one could be targeting and one not, so when you buy Invisibility against a Detect do you pay the targeting or non-targeting cost? Thanks for your time Steve.

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense? Would you post a summary of this in the appropriate 6th ed thread? It is pretty silly: might as well try for a fix.

Re: Help with Multiform I think the Reversion option will work best for what I have in mind, now that I've checked Ultimate Metamorph. Thanks to both of you.

I'm having some trouble trying to figure out a modifier on Multiform. There's a character with 4 forms, and I want to know what kind of modifier (limitation? advantage?) would apply to 9 charges of Resurrection that never recover - essentially nine lives - for the whole character. That is, if the character, in any form, dies, it resurrects, and one charge comes off the power. Right now as I understand it you have to buy the power for one of the forms and it only covers the one form, and there's no way to buy the power once to cover every form.

Re: List of canon Limited Power disads? Those were exactly the articles I was looking for, Liaden. Thanks.

I'm looking to prepare a little booklet for my players that will have my campaign house rules and the most common items needed for character creation, such as racial templates and the like. I'm looking for a collection of Limited Power examples (e.g. STR only to open pickle jars -2) to add to this. I know back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and we rode covered wagons to post on the internet (4th edition) someone made such a list, but I lost it in the great hard drive apocalypse of '03, and my search fu here seems to be weak. Does anyone have that old 4th ed list, or better yet, one compiled from 5th edition sources? Thanks for your time.

Re: THE ULTIMATE MENTALIST -- What Do *You* Want To See? You mention you're looking at Characteristics, but I thought I'd mention how EGO should be throughly explored, both in mentalist and non-mentalist fashions. What exactly does sheer willpower let any Hero character accomplish? How much torture/interrogation/lack of sleep can you handle? Just how much can you physically endure through mental strength? How does EGO interact with INT (mentalists are often described not as strong-willed, but hyper-intelligent - how can that be taken into account)? What are some interesting Limited Power purchases of EGO and INT? Even some sort of look at madness might be relevant. It's obviously going to be a harder stat to quantify than STR, but the effort would be appreciated, and I don't think it's been done before. As every mentalist has Mental Awareness by default, a thorough examination of how this sense works and interacts with the various sense modifiers would be great, and useful for all. The "all or nothing" aspect of mental powers irks many (though I'm fine with it): I suspect a set of options regarding this would be welcome. A old house rule I've run into was allowing anyone using a mental power to use EGO in place of DEX for initiative. It's a valid option, IMHO (INT might work as well). Your mention of mentalist gadgets sounds great, and as I don't see them hitting many other books, it would be good to see Hypno- and Confusion-Rays, an Instant-Lobotomizer, Psi-Helmets/Amulets, Mind Shields, Psionic Nullfiers, Domination Devices, Mind-Transferal and Reading Machines etc written up. These appear in so many genres, in both serious and goofy forms. The common polygraph described would be incredibly useful (even though it's not really a lie-detector, but you could have a real version and a comic book/fiction version). I really support the idea of a greatly expanded effects table for Mental Illusions and Mind Control. The 4th ed TUM tables were an excellent start. I'm also greatly in favour of breaking the effect levels down to increments of 5, rather than the current increments of 10. Class of Minds is rather annoying to me, so ideas on manipulating them would be welcome, though I'm at a loss as to what to suggest. Lastly, the mentioned idea of allowing those of untrained but great wills to battle a mentalist seems to be a must-have. "EGO Only to Resist X" is a start, but not very dramatic, unless you roleplay the hell out of it. Have fun. I've been looking forward to this book since 5th ed was announced

Re: Valdorian Age Review Thanks for the review. I'm looking forward to running a game in my own world with a similar flavour, and I think the rules treatments of low-powered adventuring and extra realism will be just the thing.

Re: What's the most useless supplement you'd actually like to see? The concept Darren mentioned way back actually thrills the history geek in me to death: odd- and period-setting superheroes. What fun it would be to write: I'd love to see Roman superheroes battling the vile Hunnish invaders and Set vs. The Disciples of Ra and Charlemagne's Seven vs. The Saxons and Xerxes The Lichlord vs. Socrates & The Demos and - *head explodes* In other wierdness, Limits Unlimited, a book packed to the gills with Limited Power examples for ever Hero power. The book full of Character limitations also sounds delightful, as does the book of one-liners.

Re: HERO 5th Revised I know how Steve's answers in the question forum will be formatted, as well as future FAQ updates, but will all future Hero books have 5ER page references exclusively, or will they feature dual-references to both 5th and 5ER? The Writer's Guidelines don't have this information, so I thought I'd ask here.

Re: What Would You Like To See In Upcoming HEROglyphs Columns? I'd love to see your take on a sort of Fate/Luck/Karma system for Hero, as in Shadowrun, WEG Star Wars etc. Though it can be done currently with a mixture of pushes, Haymakers, Limited Skill Levels, and the current Luck power, I don't think it's at all elegant. It's popular mechanic type that would make both a neat optional rule as well as something that would be nice to see emulated to ease conversions from other systems. I think that it's pretty much unexplored territory.

Re: Do you use the official Champions Universe? I run a campy, over the top ultra-cliched game, so I only wind up borrowing those elements I feel can be easily camped up. COIL works great, but DEMON not so much (I use Cthulhu cultists in their place). The basic supervillains with strong motifs are definitely used, such as Ankylosaur, to provide generic superflunkies, but all the major villains are my own, except for Dr. Destroyer. If I was running a less silly game, I'd definitely use the Champions Universe as is: it suits me fine.

Re: Hero Needs Reviewers!! I just found out that if you log yourself in to RPGnet and go to http://www.rpg.net/reviews/, on your right there's a button marked View reviwer controls. Clicking on that shows any reviews you have written, plus any that are pending. Mine is listed, so they're sitting on it, but unfortunately it doesn't say for how long it is pending. While it lets you view your pending review, it doesn't let you edit it (which is annoying, since I really want to tidy a few things up). So Metaphysician, if yours isn't listed there I guess you should go ahead and resubmit it.

Re: Hero Needs Reviewers!! I haven't been able to find information on their review policies, other than a sticky note at the top of their main forum stating that they're short of reviews. I never received a rejection, but I'm not aware that they reject reviews at all (other than those which would clearly be unable to be printed). I'll submit it again and see what happens (might as well take the opportunity to give it another editing pass while I'm at it). If I hear anything I'll post and let you know.